"On behalf of all the Pep Band members and especially me as the Director, we are grateful for your donation. Please let me know if you have a specific purchase you would like us to direct this funding towards equipment, food, music, etc."

We appreciate your generous support. We are fortunate to have such great alumni & fans

Watched the game at home in Cali but it sounds like the pep band added quite a spirited element.In an effort to support them as they support the team , the Bennett family would like to pledge $250 to whatever fundraiser is generated.Thanks to all who support as the home crowd can surely be the sixth man.We will look forward to fund raising info. and to whom we can send our pledge.Sincerely the Bennetts

The lack of a full time band is kind of sad given the quality of Lamont. Granted the lack of a football team hurts that, but a smaller version built for a hockey arena would be a great idea. I can remember comparing the old band to William Hung during the '04 championship game (if the thread is till available on USCHO, look it up)

The DU band is much better now than it was in '04, and much progress has been made since then.

A lot of music schools, including DU, have strained relations with pep bands, because pep bands are part time fun, and the music schools want the full time music majors to concentrate on serious music.

DU's band has made the jump from barely tolerable to enjoyable. The next leap will be from enjoyable to exemplary. It's a process.

According to the University of Wisconsin Band website they currently only have three music majors in their marching band. So I don't think DU needs Lamont students to get to the DU band to the next level.

But even Wisconsin is having trouble raising enough donations to get their band to away football games this season.

A bit primitave... but I like it. Definately need some drum accesories, harnesses, more percussion and snare. A few simple drum cadences with chants will add some nice flare. We don't need to see "Drum Line" in Magness - but between the fight song run-throughs, loud pounding, tribal drums will get people talking.Good job. Contact local retailers like Guitar Center, Drumcity guitar land, Rupps Drums..... for maybe some donations

"On behalf of all the Pep Band members and especially me as the Director we are grateful for your donation. Please let me know if you have a specific purchase you would like us to direct this funding towards equipment, food, music, etc."

We appreciate your generous support. We are fortunate to have such great alumni & fans

I am delighted at the progress of the pep band. We've come a long way from the days when the "Chancellor Forever" mused publicly that we needed a song to replace "D-Rah." And he was just the guy to make that happen. And DG is right, I can tell you from first hand experience that it was widely assumed Lamont would not only not cooperate with the creation of a pep band, but would actively oppose it. We spent hours in an alumni Board of Directors meeting arguing about whether we should set aside some money to provide sweaters/jerseys/something for the kids to wear. For God's sake we were a Division I school, with a school of music, that NEVER played its fight song at its flagship sport (or any other sports for that matter). So musically we're we're in a new golden age. And it's only going to get better. And one of these days we'll start hearing the Alma Mater again: "She's the pride of Colorado, Hail to Denver U."

Just imagine: the pep band is qualitatively and quantitatively perfect and at the end of hockey games the players gather in front of the student section while the band plays the alma mater. When it's done at the end of Notre Dame football games and many other schools, it's a huge emotional grabber. And would connect students, athletes and alumni in a way nothing else does.

Another genious idea I just had, when they're not playing in the concourse - have the band play in other areas of the stands; not just in the student section. The Crimson section, up in the gold club, the corner handicap sections, way up in the opposite end where the visitors sit (they could sit in the aisle).... do this for the North Dakota series - our Sioux guests who bought tix that weekend will LOVE it!Get them up on the catwalk. Down by the penalty boxes..... get the band more mobile. And make sure the cheerleaders and Boone are with them!!

I like the idea of the band playing the Alma Mater after games. It's rarely heard outside of DU commencement ceremonies.

We revived the fight song so that almost everyone connected with DU hockey knows it by now, and perhaps the Alma Mater can be the next musical project for the band to learn.

I'd also like the band to learn some Colorado-based music. "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh would be cool. Maybe "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver, too. Those songs would help the local non-alumni bond with the school.

Good question, Jordan. I'd imagine somebody at Lamont has the words and music. Years ago they had a recording that included the "D-Rah" and the Alma Mater. 'Course those were in the days of vinyl discs and Model T's. This will sound like something from a previous century (come to think of it, it is) but when I was a freshman, we sang the Alma Mater in the fraternity house every night after the evening meal!

I grew up with season tickets to Notre Dame football, and the traditions there run very deep. Notre Dame Our Mother after every game, win or lose, is very cool to see.

It would take a very long time for DU to come close to that kind of engagement, and it's not really even fair to compare, but the fact that I can't even find DU's Alma Mater anywhere is kind of sad. You can't build attachement to something that nobody ever hears.

And I probably shouldn't have mentioned Notre Dame's traditions. It's really not fair to compare DU to tradition laden schools like ND or Texas A & M (they've got a tradition for everything, including how to eat a hot dog I would guess). But anonymous put his finger on it. Not so long ago there was talk of replacing the "D-Rah." Fortunately at DU there are some things money can't buy. Now we've got to resurrect the Alma Mater. Maybe not after every game. Maybe only after the Saturday games. That's a detail to be worked out. But the pep band musicians who've done such a good job with the "D-Rah" can certainly learn a second piece and begin to employ it. The whole point of alma maters generally is to invoke spirit and emotion and to tie students and alumni together--a shared experience. At the University of Texas the football players stand on the field after a game, give the hook 'em horns salute, while the band plays "The Eyes of Texas." The final line is: "the eyes of Texas are upon you 'til Gabrial blows his horn." We don't want to put that kind of pressure on our hockey players. But certainly an emotional song that brings us all together, win lose or draw, is a good thing. It's the next logical step in the development of our school spirit. And if we're not immediately in the same league with ND, Texas and other big powerhouses, so what? We can do our own thing.

I bet 'Ol P wouldn't even give a honk to let you know he was coming. Just the thunk-thunk of his rascal rolling over you, a "fucking wippersnapper" and maybe the clank of an empty Crown Royal bottle hitting you in the head as a final salutation.

1969-73 the small pep band climbed up a ladder to a cat walk next to the score board on the north wall of the old arena. There were no seats at that end. They played "D-rah" when the DU team took the ice for the start of each period, after each DU goal and at the end of each period.

They played "3 Blind Mice" when the refs were introduced and a few other selections during games.

On behalf of the student leadership of the DU Pep Band I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their donations! We are trying to grow our band program and we are always open to suggestions about what we can do better. Again, thank you so much for all that you, as DU Family and Alumni, do for the students of DU.

Thanks to the Bennett family who got the ball rolling with these donations. We have already raised over $750 for the DU Pep Band this week.

You'll see that these donations, when combined together, will have a tremendous effect on the quality and future growth of the Pep Band.

To those who have donated THANK YOU. Thanks also to those who donate their time or money to DU, the hockey program, Boone, the 50/50 raffle and the Athletic Department. Look how far we have come in the past five years. :-)

So you talked people into giving money for a mascot and the pep band rather than have them contribute directly to the hockey program. Wasn’t there an article on here about how foolish a contribution to the golf program was? Perhaps the Bennett family doesn’t quite understand that $750 won’t go very far in funding Wade and Beau’s scholarships. The money from 50/50 raffle goes directly to the hockey program. The Bennett family would be better off buying raffle tickets than writing you a check.

I find it especially offensive that anyone would be so disrespectful of the Bennetts and their generous gift to help improve school spirit and the game day experience at DU hockey. Futher, I am embarrassed that anyone would be so presumptuous as to suggest he knows better than the Bennetts just how they should support the Pioneers. Where does such arrogance come from?

Typically, the band plays Saturday nights only. With this being final exams at DU right now, I am not sure if the band will play Saturday.

A small student band did play for the DU basketball game last night, augmented by some local elementary schoolers for the first half, as there was a school promotion at the game. DU beat Southern Miss from Conference USA, 59-52 in a good tight game.